Holy Bible - Obsidian Study Guide

Hidden with Christ in God

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Hidden with Christ in God

Overview

  • Testament: New
  • Book: Colossians
  • Chapters: Colossians 3:1-17
  • Summary: The ethical application of Christ’s supremacy — because believers are risen and hidden with Christ, they put off the old life and put on the new, structured around a double clothing metaphor.

Details

Colossians 3 represents one of the most carefully structured ethical sections in Paul’s letters, and its logic is inseparable from the Christology of chapter 1. The movement is consistently from indicative to imperative — from what is true about the believer’s identity to what must therefore be true about their conduct. Paul does not begin with commands; he begins with a statement of location: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” (3:1). The believer’s resurrection union with Christ is the premise; the upward orientation of mind and desire is the conclusion.

The identity statement of 3:3 is one of the most striking in the New Testament: “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” The hiddenness is not obscurity but security — the believer’s true life is concealed in the safest location in the universe. The present hiddenness is matched by a future unveiling: “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (3:4). The full reality of what believers are has not yet been revealed — it awaits the day of Christ’s appearing. This already/not-yet structure grounds the ethical urgency of what follows: the new life is real now but will only be fully manifest at the end.

The double clothing metaphor structures 3:5-17. First, “put off” (nekroo, mortify — put to death): “fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (3:5), and then a second cluster: “anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds” (3:8-9). The old man is not merely suppressed but stripped off like soiled clothing. Second, “put on” the new man (3:10), and specifically: “mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another” (3:12-13). The model for forgiveness is explicit — “even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye” (3:13).

Above all the virtues, love is the outer garment: “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness” (3:14). The household closes with two governing principles — “let the peace of God rule in your hearts” (3:15, the word brabeuo means to umpire or adjudicate) and “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (3:16). These two indwellings — the peace of God and the word of Christ — are the interior conditions from which right conduct flows. The whole section closes with the comprehensive principle: “whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (3:17).

Important Verses

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” — Colossians 3:1-3

“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering… And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” — Colossians 3:12, 14

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